Lunch box



D 1 RX A m March 22,1932.

of manufacture.

Patented Mar. 22, 1932 umrso STATES PATENT oFFIcE LEONARD GEB-HABD'I, 0F BALTIMORE, MABlY L AND AsslGNoR, BY MESNE ASSIGN MENIS, TO AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, OF-NEW YORK, N. Y., .A CORPORATION :OF

NEW JERSEY LUNoHrox Application filed May 10,

urated as to adapt it to snugly hold a thermos bottle or similar article while the body is adapted to hold sandwiches or other articles of food, the whole constituting a convenient lunch kit or box which willbe useful and con? venient to workmen, school children and others.

The principal object of the invention is the production of a lunch box or kit of the above character which shall be provided with a retaining member for detachably retaining a thermos bottle in position within the cover, said retaining member also acting as a pintle for hingedly connecting the body of the box to the cover, thereby obviating the necessity of employing separate means for performing both functions and thus cheapenmg the cost Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a lunch box constructed in accordance with my invention without the thermos bottle.

Fig. 2 is a section taken through the lunch box showing the'thermos bottle in position therein.

Fig. 3-is a section taken through a portion of the cover showing a portion of the retaining member before it has been snapped into locking position.

Referring in detail to the several figures of the drawings:

1 indicates the body of the box which is preferably metallic and rectangular in form and which is provided with ventilating openings 2 of any form. Said body is adapted to hold sandwiches or other articles of food. 3 indicates the cover the lower edge of which is adapted to interfit over the upper edge of the body. Said cover is preferably campanulate in cross-section whereby it may snugly receive a thermos bottle 4 within the rounded portion of the inner face thereof as indicated in Fig. 2.

The cover is provided with catches 5 of locking members adapted to detachably in- 1929. Serial No. 361,949.

terlock'with corresponding members 6 on the body 1 for detachably holding the cover closed to the body. These locking members,

however, may be of any suitable form and comprise no part of my invention. The body l 1 isalso provided with bearings 7 forming a part of the hinge connection between the cov er and body. These bearings, are formed by pressing out the metal from the body and then perforating the ends of said pressed-out portions in an obvious manner.

The horizontal pintle portions of a combined pintle member and retaining member are indicated at 8. These extend through the bearings 7 whereby the cover will be hinged ly connected to the body- This combined pintle member and retaining member comprises a single piece of steel wire which is bent vertically from the pintle portions into two vertical portions 9 adapted to engage a side of the cover. The wire is then bent into two diagonal portions 10 which terminate in a horizontally disposed catch member 11. When the thermos bottle is placed in the cover as shown in Fig. 3 it may be securely and detachably held therein by forcibly snapping the catch member 11 beneath a lug 12 pressed out of the metal on the cover. The pressure of the catchmember beneath said lug will be resisted by the pressure of the vertical portions '9 against a wall of the cover 7 and the necessary spring and locking action will thus result.

To prevent binding of the vertical portions 9 against the back of the cover when the cover is closed and to obviate any difliculty in closing the cover, the back of the body has been provided with two grooves 18 each adapted to receive one of the vertical portions 9 of the combined pintle member and retaining member.v The top of the cover is also preferably provided with a pair of cars 14 adapted to have a flexible handle threaded therethrough (not shown) to provide a convenient means for carrying the receptacle.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A lunch box comprising a body anda cover extending downward around the upper portion of the body and hinged to the body at the'bottom edge of the cover, a retaining member adapted to support a container within the cover and having vertical portions hinged to the cover at the outer side of the body, said vertical portions extending from their hinge up between the edges of the body and cover and bearing against the outside of the body, whereby the retaining member is held in supporting position when the cover is closed, the said vertical portions being released by the opening of the cover.

2. A lunch box comprising a body having vertical grooves, and a cover extending down- Ward around the upper portion of the body and hinged to the body at the bottom edge of the cover, a retaining member adapted to support a container within the cover and having vertical portions hinged to the cover at the outer side of the body, said vertical portions extending from their hinge up between the edges of the body and cover and bearing against the outside of the body in said grooves, whereby the retaining member is held from movement when the cover is closed, the said vertical portions being released by the opening of the cover.

Signed at Baltimore in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland this 6th day of May A. D. 1929.

LEONARD GERHARDT. 

